Four Figure Studies (from Sketchbook) 1810 - 1820

Thomas Sully created these four figure studies with graphite on paper as part of a sketchbook. Sully, working in the late 18th and mid-19th centuries, occupied a world increasingly shaped by the Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason, observation, and the study of the human form. These drawings reflect a fascination with classical aesthetics and the human body, key elements of artistic training during his time. Yet, as sketches, they offer an informal glimpse into the artist's process, revealing a tension between idealized forms and the more fluid, imperfect reality of the human figure. Sully's sketches, while seemingly academic, also carry the weight of his own social position as a white male artist within a society grappling with issues of race, class, and gender. The figures here appear to be European, reflecting the racial biases inherent in the Western artistic canon of the time. Consider how Sully’s personal experiences and cultural context shaped not only what he chose to depict, but also how he rendered these figures, consciously or unconsciously reinforcing existing social hierarchies. These studies leave us to wonder whose stories are told, whose are omitted, and how the act of sketching itself becomes a form of cultural commentary.